


Sunrise Suits You

by orphan_account



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Bucky Barnes Has PTSD, Fluff, Idiots in Love, M/M, insomniac bucky
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-10
Updated: 2016-05-13
Packaged: 2018-06-07 15:50:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,458
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6811822
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bucky is tired. He and Natasha tried to settle down after what they called Fight-squad. When Bucky finally feels ready to start building a life he can't help but keep running into Steve. Could it be a sign?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

The moonlight shone through the curtains on his face. It filled the room with an eery sort of vibe, and poetic as it might sound, Bucky found it actually really frustrating. The light was shining in his face and he could’t sleep. Not to mention the constant noise coming from the upstairs neighbors. Sometimes he thought those people where just 24/7 partying. Other times he was sure of it.  
Bucky sighed and turned to lay on his other side, so the moonlight would stop shining in his face. His bed squeaked as he did so. He felt a headache thumping behind his eyes.  
Thump. Thump. Thump. It thumped just on the beat of the music. Bucky could vaguely make out some of the words of the song being played. He recognized the song, only he couldn’t place it.  
He could go for a walk, get some fresh air. There’s nothing stopping him.  
He shifted so he was flat on his back. Once again, the bed did not appear to agree. Bucky was convinced it would fall apart one of these days. A car alarm went off, somewhere in the distance.  
The air in the room was thick and hard to breath. Bucky would have opened a window, if not for all the bugs crawling from the pits of hell (their rightful home), around this time of year.  
He dragged himself onto his feet, under heavy protests of his ever so unsupportive bed. Time for a walk.

Turns out: the moonlight that had shone in his face had actually been a streetlight all along. There were not a lot of people out at the ungodly hour of night, one which was currently unknown to even Bucky himself. Only some drunk guys were out, and maybe a handful of loyal, sober friends, most likely filled with regret already. Bucky didn’t even want to know what time it was. Good news his alarm clock had broken a few days ago, when he, in all his morning brightness, had smashed it to bits with his prosthetic arm. The pieces had been expertly shoved under his bed. The monster could deal with it.  
Bucky had been strolling though the streets for some time and was pleasantly surprised to find an ice-cream shop open. The young girl behind the cashier hadn’t even tried to start a conversation, only exchanging the necessary words, much to his delight. Half a plum-vanilla ice-cream later and Bucky was feeling a lot better. He was walking through the park quietly humming to himself, when something rustled behind him. Bucky found himself ducked behind a bush, all senses on over-drive. The dark made his field of vision limited. He’d have to work around it. He spitst his ears. Three bird, two trees away. A car alarm. A cat, most likely sleepi-  
‘uh.. Sorry, I didn’t want to scare you.’ Bucky startled at the noise. He stumbled backwards, eyes wide, until his back hit tree stump.  
‘It’s okay. It’s okay. Take it easy. I won’t hurt you,’ The guy said, ‘Can you breathe with me? Just in and out. Can you do that for me?’ He said in a tone so calm, Bucky immediately felt a bit better.  
‘In 1..2..3.. Out 1..’ He continued. Bucky listened to the man as he slowly began to calm down. In… And out…In… He looked around and noticed the remaining bits of his ice-cream melting on the path.  
‘Are you okay?’ The man asked, who had meanwhile sat down in front of the bush he had so expertly tried to hide in. Even though the bush resembled more of a stick stuck in the ground than an actual bush. It was rather comical and the ridiculousness of the situation didn't escape Bucky's mind. He would have laughed about it, had his heart not felt like bungee jumping right through his throat.  
The man looked at him, brows drawn together.  
‘Sorry, what?’ Bucky asked.  
‘If you’re feeling better.’ The man repeated slowly, carefully, but not mockingly, pronouncing the words.  
‘Oh, yeah, thanks. I’m feeling better now.’ He tried his best to force a smile, but stopped because he didn’t want to scare the guy. One of his friends (more like his only friend), natasha, had described his forced/fake-smile as “psycho, but more like the ‘Manicly laughing while torturing children’ type”, which is not the look he was going for right now. Or ever. The guy keeps looking at him disapprovingly. Bucky sighs and threw his hands in the air dramatically.  
‘All right, all right. I’m miserable and can’t function as basic human being. Happy now? Damn, you should work with the police, just look at them with those big blue eyes of yours and they’ll feel so bad no one could ever lie.’ He added a wink after the last part, just to make the words feel less loaded. Bucky was definitely not flirting. Nope. That would be really irrisponsible timing.  
It did make the guy laugh though, and to Bucky it sounded like angels singing.Bucky knew he was in trouble.  
‘I’m Steve, let me help you up.’ the guy- Steve offered his hand. Bucky didn’t want to be rude but he also didn’t want to scare the guy off with his arm. To be fair, the guy was built like a bulldozer, he would probably not scare him of like that.  
Screw it Bucky thought and took his hand, after what was probably considered an awkward amount of time.  
‘Bucky, and thank you,’  
‘You are very welcome,’ He got that Look on his face again, the same one he had been wearing earlier, all tense and stuff.  
‘May I ask..’ Here it comes, Bucky already prepared himself. ‘What are you doing in the park at 4 in the morning?’ Oh.  
‘Oh.’ That was not what Bucky had been expecting.  
‘Oh?’ Steve repeated.  
‘I thought you were gonna ask ‘bout the arm.’ If it wouldn’t have made him look even more like a maniac, Bucky would likely have been hitting a tree with his face right there and then.  
‘But I didn’t, I guess.’  
‘I couldn’t sleep.’ He just answered, a bit dumbfounded on having found such an amazing human, and a bit high on lack of sleep.  
‘What?’  
‘I couldn’t sleep.’ Bucky repeated.  
‘Oh.’  
‘Oh?’  
‘Well in that case,’ Steve stepped back in order to make place for Bucky to come out of the bushes. Steve glanced at the ice-cream still laying abandoned on the street, ‘Let me make it up to you. About the ice-cream, I mean.’  
‘Are you asking me out for ice-cream?’ Bucky asked, still not really processing what just had happened.  
‘Why not?’ Bucky could think of at least a hundred arguments, beginning with “You just met me in the park in the middle of the night.” but Steve put on a smile so charming Bucky could never say no to him. 

‘Okay so then I come back, and guess what?’ Bright and gold beams of sunlight are starting to hit Steve’s face, while he’s busy retelling the tales on how he had found himself in the park at 4 in the morning. Bucky would be lying if he said he’d wasn’t completely captivated by the man sitting opposite of him at the picknick table.  
‘What?’ Bucky asks, leaning forward and hanging on to every word rolling off of Steve’s lips.  
‘They’re gone!’  
‘What? No! Where did they go?’  
‘The balcony.’ Steve declares, obviously as into the story as Bucky is.  
‘No way!’  
‘Yes! I’m telling you, never say yes to going to an “all girls” night out, without a phone.’ Bucky is almost in tears from laughing. There are a few early morning joggers that turned there head at the odd pair, but Bucky doesn’t care and neither does Steve.  
‘I should probably head back home, maybe catch a few hours of sleep if I can.’ Bucky says with pain in his heart when they’re both calming down. Steve smiles politely, but he doesn’t look very happy either. Or maybe Bucky just doesn’t want him to look happy.  
‘Yeah, it’s been nice. I should probably go home to, before Sam gets worried.’ Bucky’s heart sinks.  
‘Wouldn’t ant anyone worrying bout your stupid face now, would we?’ Steve laughs and turns to look at him properly.  
‘Maybe I’ll see you later, Buck.’  
‘Yeah, maybe I’ll see you later.’ Bucky repeats. A moment later Steve is gone and Bucky feels his eyelids dropping. He should get home before falling asleep right here. He should get home before spits hours.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a short chapter, sorry. Will make longer ones when I have more time

Bucky Barnes wasn’t pining. Of course not! That would be ridiculous. He barely knew the guy! Just because he was nice, and kind, and considered, and had the brightest smile Bucky had ever seen, like seriously, he was pretty sure it could light up entire buildings so bright, what was he saying again?  
‘Who is it?’ Natasha asked. He hadn’t even said anything. He had walked in, found nat on the couch, and said hi.  
‘Good to see you too, Nat! Yeah I’m good, thanks for asking. How are you?’ Bucky said mockingly.  
‘Barnes.’ She said in a stern voice. Bucky was still convinced she was secretly an alien, just here to enjoy the human stupidity.  
‘It’s nothing, it’ll be over in a day.’ Natasha started to smile, which usually only happened when cats were involved. Bucky didn’t trust it.  
‘What?’ he asked. She shook her head, still grinning.  
‘Oh nothing, just happy for you.’  
‘I don’t believe you.’ Bucky said, carefully eyeing the room for something he had missed.  
‘It’s just that you haven’t had a crush since fight-squad and that I’m happy for you.’ Even the nickname "fight-squad" made him tense up. He sighed.  
‘It’s not a crush.’ He turned to the kitchen to grab a drink.  
‘Don’t forget snacks!’ He heard her shout from the living room.  
‘For what?’ He half-shouted back, although she would probably still have heard it if he whispered. And stood 500 meters away. And she stood next to giant speakers at a concert. It’s just what happens when your best friend is (probably) an alien.  
‘Because we’re gonna watch bad movies and discuss your crush!’  
‘Not a crush!’  
‘Don’t bullshit me, Barnes.’ God, he loved Natasha.

‘And his hair was just so…I don’t know…’ Bucky was now sprawled over the side of the couch not taken by Natasha and her Cat from Hell. Three movies, various kinds of alcohol and a lot of marshmallows later Bucky had finally told her what’s on his mind. More like he realized she would never let it go if he didn’t tell her now.  
‘Let me guess, “perfect”?’ She popped a marshmallow in her mouth.  
‘Yes exactly.’  
‘What a surprise.’ She rolled her eyes.  
‘What, why?’ He asked, feeling almost insulted.  
‘Because you said “perfect” for no less than 4 times about the guy.’  
‘Excuse you. That’s because it’s true.’ She sighed.  
‘What do you think, Cupcake?’ She asked her large, hairy, white cat.  
‘Yes, why not ask the devil for it’s opinion? Why not?’ He shoved his face in the nearest pillow on the couch.  
‘I think Bucky can’t handle his little man crush.’ She continued, not responding to Bucky.  
‘Not a crush!’ He yelled, it was muffled by the pillow in which he was still trying to bury his head.  
‘I’m gonna get some more snacks, if you hurt Cupcake I will kill you.’ She abruptly stood up and left for the kitchen. He was fairly sure she wouldn’t actually kill him. He was like 40% sure, which was a lot of sure considering Bucky was never sure of anything and Natasha was Natasha. Maybe 30%.  
Cupcake turned it’s fat head to stare at him. Bucky stared back.  
Cupcake opened his mouth and hissed, Bucky mockingly reenacted it.  
‘Barnes!’ Natasha shouted from the kitchen. She was definitely an alien.


	3. Chapter 3

It had been a full week and Bucky was totally over Steve. In fact, he was over everything. He was done with sulking in his room. Done with the fear and the isolation. Done with having only one friend, no offence to Natasha, she's great and all, but still only one person. He was ready to built his life now. He’d even been considering looking for a job.  
After Fight-squad, as they called it, he hadn’t dared to think of getting a job, but that was starting to change.  
His hands were aching for something, anything, to do. He wanted to get out there, make a difference. Maybe help people, actually helping them. He was thinking of volunteering at the rest house. It was close to where he lived and he was good with elderly.  
He would take a look and see if it was something for him, before telling Natasha. He didn’t want her getting her hopes up in case this turned out to be a huge fail. He knew she was worried about him. He saw it in everything. In the way she talked to him, the way she made him coffee in the morning after nightmares, the way she made food for him when she suspected him of having forgotten to eat. He had lived with Natasha for a while, until the nightmares really started to kick in. He’d wake up screaming and sweating in the middle of the night. Natasha never mentioned it but he saw the circles under her eyes when she gave him coffee in the morning. He decided it was better to live on his own for a while. If someone asked about where he lived he’d still tell them about Natasha’s place. Natasha still considered it Bucky’s place, too. But at least one of them could get some sleep.  
Bucky had called the rest house beforehand. The woman who answered sounded really nice, Sharon was her name. She’d told him they were always looking for some extra helping hands and to come by so he could see the place for himself.  
He’d showered, Bucky reminded himself of fixing the pipes for warm water, as he should have done some weeks ago. He’d practiced some standard answers, for questions about his arm or his past, in the mirror. He’d put on some clean clothes, got his bag with all the important stuff like his “normal” resume and his ID, said goodbye to the bed monster, and locked his door. He was ready for this.  
The walk was short but nice. The weather was a bit to warm for his liking, but still nice. He reached the rest house all to soon.  
The doors slid open and he was greeted by the cool air of the room. He walked up to the desk, the girl behind it was on the phone to someone so he waited patiently a few steps removed from the desk as not to seem impatient. She ended the call and smiled at him, he stepped closer.  
‘Hi, sorry for the wait, how can I help you?’ She asked. He recognized the voice from the phone.  
‘Hi, I called earlier about the volunteering I might be interested in.’  
‘Ah, yes!’ a look of recognition shot over her face, ‘You’re Bucky, was it not?’ He nodded, glad this wasn’t as awkward as he thought it would be. ‘Well, I informed someone from the staff and he is very willing to help out so he’ll give you a tour and he could show you what we do all day. Oh, and I’ll need to see your ID if you really want to give this a shot. It’s so I can put you in the system so if you have it next time than that’d be wonderful.’ She smiled reassuringly, Bucky smiled back. ‘I’ll call the guy who’ll tour you, you can wait over there,’ She pointed at the circle of chairs and tables in the extended part of the hall. He nodded and thanked her, then walked to sit on one of the tables.  
The woman sitting opposite of him had pearl-white hair, her hands trembled a bit as she turned the page of her newspaper. She looked up when he sat down.  
‘Hello boy,’ She looked nice.  
‘Hello miss.’ He greeted politely.  
‘It’s a nice day today, isn’t it?’  
‘It really is a beautiful day.’ He confirmed, glancing outside then back at the woman who was still looking at him.  
‘You know, when I was younger I was a real troublemaker,’ She chuckled, then continued ‘These days were my favorite. I would get all my friends and we’d think up some plan to do.’ Bucky studied her face for a moment, her skin was worn out but her eyes were still shining. ‘One day, we were out and we thought it would be a good idea to prank our teacher, Mr. Fredrick. Mr. Fredrick came from Germany, so we didn’t like him very much if you know what I mean.’ Bucky nodded.  
‘It was warm and we all put some money together to buy eggs and other stuff. We went up to his house in the afternoon, we knew he’d be out for a walk by then.’ She took off her glasses and looked outside, paper laying abandoned on the table. ‘We ran away before he came back. Next morning in class, he started by telling us someone egged his house. I would have sworn he looked every and each one of our group directly in the eye. He started telling us about where he came from. I didn’t wanna listen at first, but if I didn’t I thought he might call the cops on us so we kept seated, quiet.’ Bucky leaned forward, he didn’t know why but he wanted to know how this story ended.  
‘What did he say?’ Bucky asked.  
‘He said he was from Germany, which we all knew, then he told us why he wasn’t in Germany anymore. Mr. Fredrick had a boyfriend.’ She takes a sip from her cup and then smiled. ‘With the keyword being “had”. Until the nazis made him fight in the war. Mr.Fredrick had promised him to flee the country, find somewhere safe, and he had. But then someone had egged his house, and he felt like he was being brought back to Germany.’  
‘How did you react?’ Bucky asked quietly.  
‘Shocked, of course! We hadn’t had a clue. One of the girls, Doris, I believe she was called, still didn’t like him. Next house we egged had been Doris’ house.’ She laughed at the memories, Bucky leaned back in his chair chuckling along.  
‘I’m happy Doris got what she deserved.’ A low voice came from behind them. Bucky turned his head.  
‘Steve?’  
‘Good to see you, Buck. You were thinking about volunteering here, correct?’  
‘Yeah, yes, I thought uhm, I don’t know what I thought, but it seemed like a good idea.’  
‘Well, it hope you still think so after today.’ They smiled at each other for a quiet moment until the woman opposite of them cleared her throat.  
‘Ah yes! Mrs Williams, I see you’ve met Bucky.’  
‘He’s an excellent young man.’ She confirmed.  
‘Thank you ma’am’  
‘Alright, well if I could borrow him for a minute I would like to show him around.’ Steve asked her.  
‘Have fun, boys.’ She turned to Bucky, ‘Maybe I’ll see you around then.’  
‘Maybe.’ Bucky responded, Mrs. Williams turned back to her newspaper.  
Sharon looked from behind her desk as the Steve introduced the new guy to the building. This might get interesting, she thought. 

The work looked nice. Of course Steve knew everyone’s names, not only those of his coworkers and the people who lived there, but also of those who came to visit them. And they all loved Steve. Bucky had a positive feeling about the place. His job was easy and clear, he was mostly there to make sure everyone got coffee or tea, to make sure everyone got invited to dinner in the evening, and to talk with the people to keep them from getting lonely. Bucky felt really positive about it.  
He thanked Steve for showing him around and made an appointment with Sharon to put him in the system. Steve had walked him to the door, and Bucky could feel himself melt a bit when Steve said “Mind the step”.  
Bucky couldn’t wait to share the news with Nat and decided to go straight to her place. he hadn’t seen her all day and it was around dinnertime anyway. He hadn’t felt so happy, so human, in a long time. He was also slightly exhausted from being so nervous and happy all day, he should go to bed early tonight. But first Natasha. And, most importantly, food.

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know what you think, thnx for reading :D


End file.
